Vongola Decimo
by KuroRaven
Summary: Tsunayoshi Sawada has accepted the position of being Vongola Decimo. Now a true mafia boss, what kind of dangers will start to surface, all for the sake of gaining the position of the most influential and powerful boss? RE-UPLOAD IN PROGRESS.
1. Chapter 1

There were many, many reasons why Tsunayoshi Sawada was not suited to be the leader of the Vongola. There was his ability of standing out for all the wrong reasons, such as obtaining poor grades and his short stature. He was afraid of bullies, choosing to take the easiest, and admittedly, the wimpiest way out. Even his escape routes were not the least bit useful, and he often ended up with countless bruises for the apparent dislike he garnered from his classmates. He was not much of an athlete either, always the last in class for all activities that included running.

And yet, there, too, were various reasons why Tsunayoshi Sawada was suited to be the leader of the Vongola. Given the chance, he had charisma of his own, young and inexperienced as he was. With the right people by his side to assist him and a common goal, everything was achievable. And, again, given the chance, he could pick up skills and polish them in record time. It was this uncanny ability of his that gave people the courage to trust him with great tasks. They could tell, of course. This young man had the ability to achieve great things.

Based on past achievements, it was logical to conclude that he had the ability to lead the Vongola to far greater success. It was a responsibility not to be taken lightly, for it concerned the lives of thousands of members and famiglias serving under the group. It was the boss' job to maintain the reputation of the most powerful Mafia Famiglia in all of Italy and worldwide. With connections all over the world and members always looking out for signs of rebellion, it was vital to stay focused and keep the group together at all times. Internal battles were signs of weakness and could tear apart the entire group, and there was the need for a capable leader to keep everyone united.

The ninth boss was ageing, as was agreed by the heads of the famiglias under the Vongola, and it was time for a change.

Vongola Decimo had been chosen.

XXX

The Inheritance Ceremony was an elaborate one. Within the underworld, it was considered one of the most prestigious ceremonies attended only by the top leaders in the mafia. It was the one event that would eventually shape the Vongola and its direction, thus the whole fuss.

It had been decided by Vongola Nono months ago, and it had unofficially been decided that Tsunayoshi Sawada would take over the position of Vongola Decimo. There had been few objections with concern over the young brunet's ability to take control of such a large mafia group whilst still young. They were easily convinced after Tsunayoshi had specifically challenged the leaders of the famiglias who doubted his power. There was no real competition for it was fairly obvious that he was superior, though there were a couple of close calls. All in all, there were little problems tying up loose ends and gaining the approval of majority of the entire Vongola family.

The ceremony itself was short and simple, with a speech by Timeteo on the history of the Vongola and then, the official announcement of handing over his position to his heir, Tsunayoshi Sawada. The rest was mostly socializing on Tsunayoshi's part, as he begun to familiarize himself with all the others that he would soon start working with. Always vigilant and looking out for signs of rebellion, it was a tiring task as he went from one person to another, smiling as Reborn sat on his shoulder, guiding him along. With only a few months of training by his tutor, he was hardly the best at reading people. It was thus Reborn's job to show him the ropes, looking out for little signs that may show a person's slightest displeasure. There was also the fact that he could speak little Italian, and the cramming Reborn had subjected Tsunayoshi to was still not adequate to hold a proper conversation.

In a nutshell, it was a great success. Tsunayoshi Sawada was officially the Tenth Generation Boss of the Vongola. The ceremony had gone by without a hitch, and everything was in place. Of course, all duties would not be taken over the young head yet, and things would go as per normal for the next few months. In that period of time, the new boss would go through training in various aspects, learning how to manage the whole organization and improve his skills at hand to hand combat as well.

XXX

It was a tough decision, even for Tsunayoshi himself. It meant giving up his life in Namimori for a couple of years, away from his school, his country, his language, his family and friends. It was slightly easier, now that his mother knew of who his father was, and what his role was. However, as exciting as it may be to remain overseas for studies, there was always this little part of him longing for the company of his loved ones.

There was also the part where he had to break the news of his departure to his friends. It was necessary, and he was sure that his friends would understand. Of course, there would be that little fuss Gokudera would make, but that could be easily settled. Nervous as he was, he made his way up to the rooftop of his school, taking note of every single detail in his school. He would leave very soon, and he would treasure every moment he could, and of the school he had come to love over the years.

Tsuna approached the noisy group with his heart pounding in his chest for some reason. It was not exactly fear, but nothing else could explain his mixed feelings. With every step he took, he rehearsed the words in his mind as he had done since the previous day. It was simple to speak to others he was less familiar with, but with his close friends, it seemed to be a different matter altogether.

As Gokudera caught sight of his beloved boss, his eyes brightened and grinned, yelling a cheerful "Jyuudaime!" Tsuna couldn't help but catch on to that enthusiasm, smiling amidst his worry.

_They should be expecting this anyway._ He reassured himself in his mind, and as he watched his guardians start to cluster around him, his nerves dissipated. Speaking up before he lost the nerve, he broke the news.

"I'll be leaving Namimori next week for Italy." Tsuna gave a short pause to allow the information to sink in. "I'll be back in three years. Till then, all of you will remain in Japan to complete all of your studies here. The Arcobaleno will assist you in your training during this period."

There was a moment of stunned silence, before Gokudera, as expected, started to protest. "But Jyuudaime, as your right-hand man, it would not be right for me to be away from your side! I need to be near you to protect you!"

"I will be the one to protect him, if it assures you." A new voice piped up. That voice was unmistakably Reborn's, and all of those present instinctively surveyed their surroundings for the little hitman. It only took a second for them to find him, as he jumped onto his usual spot on his student's right shoulder.

"Dame-Tsuna will spend his time in Sicily where I, amongst many others, will personally couch him. You don't have to worry about them. Over here, you will continue your studies and training. Your tutors will be the same few you studied under previously."

Chrome gathered the courage to speak up, soft as she might sound. "Will you be alright by yourself over there? Is there anything we can do to help?"

Tsuna smiled. "I'll be fine, so you don't have to worry about me. I have Reborn by my side, and I doubt anyone has the guts to kill me while he's around." He chuckled nervously, glancing at his tutor just to reassure himself that Reborn was fine with his words.

The instance he turned, a sharp rap on his head told him that Reborn was most definitely not pleased. "Dame-Tsuna is forever Dame-Tsuna. You can't always rely on me. If that's the case, I won't go to Italy with you."

"Ehhhhhh?"

"That was a joke. You're too careless with words, idiot student." Tsuna visibly sighed in relief. Reborn smirked as he adjusted his fedora.

All of the guardians, save for the two absent guardians, Hibari and Mukuro, watched on in amusement at the interaction. It had become a commodity for Reborn to abuse Tsuna as he liked, the way they saw it, and even Chrome could not help but giggle. Lambo, on the other hand, had decided to crawl onto Tsuna's other shoulder to hug him.

Words of encouragement filled the air as his friends wished him the best for his three-year-long trip. "Get really, really strong, alright?" Lambo gleefully stated as he jumped off Tsuna's shoulder and landed, beginning a game of catch with Chrome.

Ryohei, as always, was as sunny and fired up with his own encouragement. "Live to the extreme! Die to the extreme! Train to the extreme!" He punched his right fist into the air. "Come back extremely safe!"

"Jyuudaime!" Tsuna smiled, almost rolling his eyes at how dramatic his self-proclaimed right-hand man was. Tears formed in the corner of Gokudera's eyes as he approached. "I am sure that Jyuudaime has put much consideration into this matter, so I will not question your decision. Please be careful over there! When you come back, I'll be the best right-hand man in the world!" He gave a long bow, so proper that even Tsuna was at a loss of how to react for a second.

Tsuna could only reply with a "I'll be fine, relax!" Gokudera straightened up after that, wiping away his tears, almost embarrassed with his display of affection. He knew his boss was going to be so much stronger when he returned and his concern was uncalled for, but he was still slightly worried. He was upset, of course, because he would not be allowed to leave with his boss. However, everything must have been confirmed prior to this announcement, and he would have to do as the brunet said.

An annoying arm slung itself around his neck, breaking Gokudera's chain of thoughts. Irritably, he frowned and almost blew up as the Rain guardian cheerfully spoke to Tsuna. "Do your best over there, alright? If there's anything you need, just give me a call! I doubt Reborn would mind!" Yamamoto smiled. "You don't have to worry about us over here! We can hold our own in any fight, you'll see!"

Grudgingly, Gokudera agreed. At least the baseball idiot made some sense. "We're strong, so please focus on your training!" Turning to Yamamoto, the words threatening to erupt out of his mouth slithered away into the depths of his mind. As civilly as he could, he detached himself from Yamamoto's hold, glaring as he did so. "Watch your arm."

"Maa, maa, it's fine, isn't it?"

"No, it's not."

Tsuna chuckled to himself as he watched the two fight. His two closest friends seemed to get along well enough, and he was sure that he would miss this- this affection, from what he saw. If Gokudera ever knew what he thought, he would surely beg to differ with the most violent means to prove his point. Full of dynamites and explosions. The prospect of it seemed amusing, in itself. He made a mental note to try it someday.

XXX

All preparations were made within the next couple of days, and Tsuna hastily packed his luggage to enjoy the free time he still had. Undoubtedly, Reborn would make a Spartan list of exercises for him and while he could still be free, he would relax.

He had realised that he was still useless in so many ways. There had been far too many times he had allowed his famiglia to be hurt, and yet he still could do little to protect those precious to him. The reason for his departure to Italy was for his studies for his role of the leader of the mafia organization, but the main reason was a personal one. He had to be much stronger and develop more techniques to keep those around him safe.

He knew it was going to be tough. Reborn would assure him of that. However, for the sake of his family, he would not mind going through all the pain from training and studies. Besides, he had accepted the responsibility as the head. Under his wings were hundreds, thousands of men who depended on him for direction and protection.

Tsuna did realise that it was not simple as caring for his small circle of family and friends. There were the young and the old, the skilled and unskilled who would eventually follow all of his commands to keep the organization together. He could not be so self-centered as to remain with his friends in Namimori, laughing and having fun while disregarding the weight on his shoulders. It was necessary for him to move to Sicily.

Besides, like Gokudera and Doctor Shamal, there were many trained hitmen from Italy. They were of a higher level than those in Japan, and he would only be able to improve by being in an environment with professionals.

Tsuna stared up at his bedroom ceiling. What kind of place would it be? He had never left Namimori in his entire life, much less Japan. The climate, the people, the language- basically everything would be different. He would have a different schedule from what he was used to. He would have to adapt to all these changes.

Closing his eyes, Tsuna drifted off into a peaceful sleep, dreaming of a land unlike his own.

**A/N: I apologise for updating this so late. It's not really an update but just me re-writing this chapter. I'll try to get all the other chapters fixed as soon as possible. Till then, please bear with me. I apologise for the inconvenience. That aside, I hope you liked this chapter! **


	2. Chapter 2

_**NOTES: **_

_Nice to meet you._ – Italian

Nice to meet you. – Japanese

**SORRY! I'm not Japanese nor Italian so… I can't write in the language. **

A year and a half later

"Dino-san, is there really a need for this?" Tsuna asked, pointing to the 2 men around him. His personal bodyguards were assigned by the Callavone boss, and he wasn't quite used to them. When he went to the toilet, they followed. When he was eating, they were all over the place. When he was resting in his room, _somebody_ was there. It was just like being in a cage – he couldn't even do what he liked (like playing video games or watch television) when he wanted to! Well, he wasn't supposed to in the first place… but he had to at least have some time to himself to relax!

"Tsuna, you have to remember your position. You're a mafia boss, which means there is the possibility of you getting assassinated. Reborn has already discussed this with the 9th, and since you're officially Vongola Decimo, and it's already been a year, there will be families sending out people to kill you." Reborn had agreed?

"At least leave me alone in my room! I can defend myself if people try to attack!" Tsuna exclaimed in exasperation, throwing his pen down in frustration.

"I know, Tsuna, you have already become extremely strong. Able to defeat Kyouya, and fight on equal grounds with Basil-kun even without your flames is amazing. However, we do not want to risk you losing your life. These families have been plotting for some time, and could have developed new weapons. Do you understand why we're doing this?" Dino answered. He knew that Tsuna was getting stressed, and he also needed personal space. The paperwork was also a lot, and he always had to spend a lot of time reading and signing. His Italian was much more fluent, but the point was that Tsuna was only 17 years old, for goodness sake! (I'm thinking this age would be better – 16 would be too young)

Tsuna didn't bother to answer the question. He was already concentrating on his paperwork about the families which posed a threat to them. As the leader of Italy's most powerful mafia group, there were definitely those who wanted to overthrow him.

Nobody spoke for a moment and Dino stood there in awkward silence. He finally piped up.

"Tsuna, I've asked permission from Kyuudaime (9th) and Reborn. They've agreed to let you return to Japan for a month." Upon hearing this, Tsuna's eyes lit up.

"For real? I'll be able to stay at home, too, right?" Dino smiled. He didn't like to argue with his little brother, and he was glad that Tsuna wasn't unhappy with him anymore. Besides, he knew that the teen had learnt to be very firm when he wanted to, and it wouldn't be an extremely pleasant experience since he had seen Tsuna blow up once.

"Yes. Seeing you've been so stressed, I haven't been able to tell you this news. You can leave any time you want to since you can use the Vongola's personal plane." Tsuna stood up and hugged Dino, who ruffled his hair in answer. The bodyguards almost grinned at the two's interaction, but remembered that they were on duty and kept a straight face. Noticing this, Tsuna told them not to be so stiff around him and bounded out of the room to pack his stuff, both of his bodyguards trailing after him.

Dino forgot to tell Tsuna that 10 guards would be accompanying him, and the two who would always be somewhere near him, Akira and Sho, who were the strongest fighters. Well, definitely much weaker compared to the Guardians and Tsuna. Hopefully he wouldn't get reproached.

Tsuna boarded the plane 2 hours later, and Reborn kicked him in the head as a gift. Well, that's what was expected from the sadistic tutor. Oh yeah, and it was this _certain_ tutor who chose his outfit. And it was a suit, complete with a tie.

"You have to wear something becoming of your status. Don't want a mafia boss to look too shabby, right?" Reborn smirked. Tsuna hated the outfit, but didn't bother to retort. He didn't want to go back to his friends with bruises all over, which was how he ended up wearing the uncomfortable clothing.

**Back to the plane~**

It was the first time on this plane for Tsuna. As he had not officially inherited the position before, it was not permitted to have an outsider on the property of the Vongola family. The 9th had apologized for that previously.

It was like a different world, compared to the normal aeroplanes Tsuna had been on. Normal ones, meaning the rows of seats and narrow aisles, with pretty air stewardesses walking around to assist passengers. This plane was like a house. There were separate rooms, a dining room, a living room, a television… Perfect. He immediately went to the room marked "X" and went in. Another television, video games, bed, table, casual clothing – everything he needed for entertainment! He was glad he wasn't stuffed with more Italian books. Oh, wait. What was with the _Spanish, German, French and English_ books on the table? Uh oh. It meant he had to study those during his free time, which was probably NOW. He could cope with the English book, but he might have to ask Sho or Akira for help on the others. He deserved a holiday, not another month of more studying! He groaned. Reborn was almost certainly watching him somewhere at the headquarters in Italy. He'd try to sleep off the hours before studying…

Tsuna ended up sleeping for an hour and struggling to finish his English book. He had been at it for 3 hours now, and was only at the eleventh page, furiously checking an English dictionary every few seconds.

Reborn sighed as he watched all this on his giant monitor. Tsuna being well-versed in other languages would be useful in the future. When he returned, he would _personally_ teach Tsuna. If he managed to survive through it, of course.

"Decimo-sama, we have arrived. Please get ready to leave the plane. Akira-san and Sho-san will be with you shortly. We hope you had a pleasant flight." A female voice resounded throughout the plane, jolting Tsuna out of his thoughts. He had changed out of the suit and was now wearing jeans with an orange shirt, which had the Vongola crest at the side. The white jacket held his box weapon, and he looked pretty good in it. A polite knock on the door made Tsuna stride to his door and open it, and they made their way to the limousine where his men awaited.

The mafia boss sat comfortably in his seat and closed his eyes to relax. He directed the driver to his home, and dozed off. He was woken up by Akira, who called his name and shook his shoulders. Tsuna was a naturally heavy sleeper after all.

"Ahh… we're here?" he asked groggily. Tsuna made his way out and instructed his bodyguards to leave, and bring his luggage over later. They complied. He pressed the doorbell tentatively. The door was opened in seconds.

"Yes? Who is – Tsu-kun! Why didn't you tell me you're coming back today?" Nana asked, hugging her son really tightly.

"Well, surprise! How've you been, kaa-san?" Tsuna asked, as he enjoyed the warmth of his mother. He had certainly missed her a lot.

"I'm fine! It's such a nice surprise, and I really missed you! You've grown taller and more handsome too! Does Hayato-kun and Takeshi-kun know about this?" Gokudera and Yamamoto must have come over a lot, for them to be called by their first names.

"A surprise!" Tsuna glanced at his watch. "It's lunchtime now, I'll be going to school and scare them!" His voice had gone lower and he was more mature. Nana was glad her little Tsuna had finally grown up.

"Alright! Be back in time for dinner, I'll be cooking up a feast!" Nana smiled.

"Hai!" Tsuna waved as he left. He was looking forward to a home-cooked Japanese meal, but he focused on the task at hand. He was going to see onii-san, Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto! He jogged to school, since his bodyguards had specific orders that he didn't want to be followed, and orders were orders.

Tsuna reached his old school, and took in the familiar sights. He had been among adults for too long, and seeing students running around reminded him of the old days, when he could enjoy himself, with the company of the other guardians. Reminiscing, he walked up the staircases, towards the rooftop. He ignored the stares of other students, as he was the only one without his school uniform. **Wasn't he afraid of getting bitten to death by Kusakabe?**

"Herbivore. What are you doing, wearing those clothes in my school? It's against the school rules. I'll bite you to death." Hibari appeared suddenly, raising his tonfast. The students around held their breaths as they watched. They didn't know that the famous delinquent had returned, and didn't think the unknown boy would be able to escape his wrath.

"_Hibari-san? What are you doing here? Are you not supposed to be in Italy now? Anyway, I can't fit into my school uniform anymore, so forgive me. I'm only here to check on Yamamoto and Gokudera, and as their boss, I believe I have the right to do so. Also, sparring here would destroy the building." _Tsuna answered in Italian. He didn't want the other students to know about his status.

"Hmph. I'll let you off this time. Be quick." **What? THE Hibari Kyouya was letting of this teen? And what was that language used? **These questions passed through the watching students' minds.

"Thanks, Hibari-san!" Tsuna smiled, and a tonfa came flying past. He grabbed onto it quickly and handed it back to Hibari. **Abnormal. That guy is insane to be smiling at Hibari and even blocked his tonfas! I really wished he were smiling at me though, he looks so cute!** The girls started pushing their way towards Tsuna as soon as Hibari was out of sight. It was true that Tsuna had grown to be extremely handsome and much taller. It was no wonder the girls liked him. However, he still managed to look cute, as his face was… Somehow, that smile was able to brighten the whole place. The guys fell in love with that smile, and went forward to get his name, but Tsuna had disappeared.

Technically, he hadn't, but he was able to push everyone away gently and he raced to the rooftop. He smiled as he saw his two loyal guardians. His friends. The silver-haired boy was munching on sushi with Yamamoto, and they were arguing. There was the usual frown on Gokudera's face, and the familiar laugh from Yamamoto. How nostalgic… Tsuna smiled. The two hadn't noticed him yet.

"Gokudera-kun! Yamamoto!" he called out. Both guardians turned to the back to see who had called them. Both jaws dropped as they recognized the teen before them.

"Jyuudaime!"

**A/N: How was this? I know, it sucked, but I'll make it better next time! Please review and check out my profile and vote on your favourite pairings if you want romance. ;) Hope you guys don't flame me because this chapter wasn't really good… Have mercy on me! :3**

**Ja na~**

**KuroRaven**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi guys, and sorry but I edited and re-typed part of this chapter. I can't do the fluffy bits for this kind of story after all. So, of course, if you want lotsa 1827 moments, be sure to read my story "Falling in Love with a Carnivore" (I think that's the title, at least). It isn't complete, since I plan to let it drag on unless people start complaining. So... Start reading, start reviewing, and stop daydreaming! ^^**

"Jyuudaime!"  
"Tsuna!" Both of the guardians gaped at the person before them. Without a doubt, it _was _their precious boss. Looking… different. He certainly had grown taller, and was about the same height as Gokudera now. Yamamoto, of course, was still the tallest among them. His voice had gone a little lower, just like when he was in HDW mode. His face was basically the same, but he looked a little more mature. However, there was still…cuteness retained in that smile which had magically appeared.

"Jyuudaime, when did you return?"Gokudera asked as he pounced onto Tsuna. Suddenly, he realised something important. _Very important._

"Jyuudaime, I am very sorry for not being able to receive you from the airport! Please forgive me, your right-hand man, for his incompetence!" Gokudera moved away to kneel land bang his head against the floor. After all this time, he hadn't changed. Tsuna chuckled at this fact. He pulled his Storm Guardian to his feet instantly.

"So…how have you two been? Have you gotten girlfriends yet?" Tsuna teased. The answer he got was just outright ridiculous.

"Of course not, Jyuudaime! It is not appropriate to have a partner when I am your right-hand man!" _Huh? What kind of logic is that?_

"Gokudera-kun, I have never heard of such a thing. You are free to find a suitable partner." Tsuna sighed at the over-enthusiastic teen.

"Tsuna, I think you've really changed. Right now, you are much more composed than before! Oh yeah, and I see your ear piercings... Haha, did Reborn force you to get those? I like it, though. Black earings do look good on you. Reborn must have tried to force his own fashion sense on you, right?" Yamamoto hurriedly changed the subject. _Those earings..._

"You could say that... Reborn suddenly grabbed me out of nowhere and ordered Sho to bring me to get piercings... Oh, and just to let you know, I have a bodyguard called Sho. Man, I just don't understand why I even need bodyguards..."

"You have bodyguards? But I don't see them anywhere!" Yamamoto wondered.

"Idiot, isn't the reason obvious? Jyuudaime doesn't need somebody to protect him, so his bodyguards were sent off!" Gokudera proclaimed. Tsuna inwardly chuckled - Gokudera certainly amused him to no end whenever he made up such stuff.

"Gokudera-kun, I just told my two bodyguards to stay away for now. I hate being followed every second of the day. It's more of a relief to be without them. Besides, how could I relax without being alone with you guys?"

"Jyuudaime, we are very honoured to-"

"Who is the newcomer to the extreme?" Somebody broke into their conversation. It wasn't just somebody, but the _extremely_ loud Ryohei Sasagawa.

"Ah, onii-san. It's nice to see you again!" Tsuna gave that dazzling smile again.

"Sawada? Is that you to the extreme?" Ryohei asked with confidence. Well, since he didn't ever do anything without confidence.

"Turf-top, you don't have to bother asking, and bothering Jyuudaime, do you?" Gokudera asked.

"Haha! Welcome back to Japan, Sawada! What are you doing here, anyway?" Ryohei blatantly ignored the Storm Guardian, which made Gokudera retort. However, he was interrupted by Tsuna, who was answering the question, thus successfully shutting the silver-haired boy up.

They spent the next fifteen minutes talking about everything which had happened in their school life (for the three guardians) and the funny stuff that Tsuna had seen in Italy.

"Herbivore. You're getting too noisy. I'll bite you to death." Hibari slammed open the door to the rooftop. Everyone froze.

"I'll kill you for daring to insult the Tenth! Anyway, what are you doing back here? I didn't see you this morning." Gokudera immediately got into his offensive position.

Hibari didn't make any move to reply, and immediately lunged forward to start the fight, which went on for a minute, before Yamamoto intervened and pulled Gokudera apart, while Hibari smirked at Gokudera tauntingly, and let his tonfas drop to his side.

The bell rang a few minutes later, and obviously, it was time for class. Since Tsuna wasn't in the mood to leave his guardians after their reunion, he obviously followed Gokudera and Yamamoto to their class (surprisingly, the two were in the same class). Onii-san had bid them goodbye to the extreme, and Tsuna smiled. He had missed that quite a lot.

"Jyuudaime! I am very sorry, but you will not have a desk to yourself." Gokudera bowed after pulling a chair to his own desk.

"Haha… Gokudera-kun, it's fine. Nobody expected me to be here, after all. I doubt the students even remember me!" Tsuna chuckled.

"If anybody dares to forget Jyuudaime, I will blow them up!" A lighted dynamite appeared out of nowhere and Tsuna immediately snuffed it out.

"Gokudera-kun, it's alright." Tsuna flashed his brightest smile and his Storm Guardian gulped. Yamamoto, who was sitting on Gokudera's right, chuckled along. The other students in the classroom were about to find out more about the new addition to their class, but were interrupted by footsteps nearing the classroom.

The teacher, whom Tsuna later came to know as "Rika-sensei", realised there was a new person in class. She'd never seen the boy, and stared at him for a while.

"Excuse me, but you are…?"

"Sorry for intruding! I just want to meet my friends, so I decided to stay on till school ends today. I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi." A collective gasp went around the room, while Rika-sensei was unperturbed. She was a new teacher, and didn't know of this particular brunet.

"Well then, welcome to our class!" Rika-sensei smiled, before she started her lesson, oblivious to the squeals of the girls from the back of the classroom. It was obvious what they were going on about – _That hot guy is Sawada? DAME-TSUNA?_ For the whole of Rika-sensei's lesson, most of the students were listening (except for the nerdy ones) and giggling to themselves, trying to attract attention.

Tsuna smiled as he felt countless pairs of eyes staring at his back, and some at his face. If it were 1 and a half years ago, this would never have happened. Now, he was already starting to get used to these kind of stuff, since whenever he went out with his bodyguards, there were always girls trying to grab his interest by wearing ridiculously short skirts and showing a _lot_ of skin, not that Tsuna cared. He already had Hibari, for goodness sake. Unfortunately for him, there seemed to be quite a few male perverts who tried to grope him or something, since they didn't know who Tsuna was. They surely wouldn't dare to do so if they ever found out they were messing with one of the most influential mafia bosses in Italy, and daresay, other parts of the world.

Tsuna started to smile dreamily as he reminisced, and the students in the class couldn't help but blush at the cute sight. Gokudera and Yamamoto were unaffected, since Gokudera was too busy glaring at the other pupils who were gawking at Tsuna, and Yamamoto was falling asleep since the teacher was droning on and on… Typical behaviour of Yamamoto, after all.

It was peaceful and quiet… other than the teacher's monotonous drone and students' constant chatter. Well, that was the case until…

_Crash!_

The glass from the windows in the classroom shattered, as a figure flashed by all too quickly.

And the figure landed in the classroom, with two others following closely. They were all dressed in black, though the one in front, presumably the leader, had a mask which covered half of his face.

"**Vongola Decimo, I am from the Gabino family. Remember this, and prepare for your funeral!" **That man lunged forward, and the other two immediately followed suit.

_This isn't good… The teachers and students are going to get killed if we don't change the location._

"Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto, change location." Tsuna didn't have time to phrase his order properly, but his message was conveyed easily.

The two guardians dodged blows from the sharp knives which these people used, and while doing so, backed away and jumped through the window.

"**The Gabino family? I would like to tell you now – I will never approve if you use these kind of methods to get to the top. You have no regard for human life, and you are sure to use the position to commit sinful acts. I do not see you worthy."** Tsuna replied, though his eyes momentarily flickered to the terrified people in the classroom who couldn't understand what was happening. For one, they couldn't understand Italian. Also, the fact that some random group breaking in through the windows and Tsuna standing up to them was both surprising and cool. After all, who would expect Dame-Tsuna to actually fight back? Their previous conclusion that Sawada was a useless, hopeless and uncool idiot was now permamently changed to the hot, badass fighter who retained cute features, which were enough to thaw the thickest ice. However, they weren't able to continue watching this match.

"**Worthy? And what makes you worthy? You are a successor of the Vongola family, but it doesn't mean that you are the strongest. I will prove that." **The masked man pulled out a blue gun and shot at Tsuna. Having had enough training from Reborn, Tsuna easily dodged that and slowly guided the crazed man towards the window, before he let himself fall, popping two pills into his mouth.

Automatically, Tsuna was in his Hyper Dying Will mode, and made a perfect landing. His guardians were faring well and had almost defeated their opponents, and the relieved teen focused on his own fight.

The two exchanged blows, watching each other intently and Tsuna could tell that this man wasn't too bad in his combat skills. However, he was notches lower than Tsuna in terms of skills, and his disregard for human life disgusted the young Boss. Thus, Tsuna finished the fight with one of his favourite attacks: X-Burner.

Well, almost.

If it weren't for the raven-haired prefect who was smirking and leaning against a nearby wall. The Gabino family boss was surprised that he hadn't been knocked out or killed yet, and opened his eyes. Ah, the foolish Vongola scum wasn't hitting him and staring somewhere else? Not focusing on him was simply degrading. He was about to fire another few rounds of bullets, but was interrupted by an intense murderous aura.

Hibari Kyouya had decided to make his move.

"Hnn... Trespassing and destroying school property. _Kami korosu."_

The rest was just a blur, which ended up with a pathetic heap of 3 bodies kicked onto the road, since Hibari didn't want the corpses to dirty his school. Watching Tsuna for a second, he glared and retreated to the Reference Room.

The class couldn't really see the fight properly, since they were blocked by some walls, and were rather disappointed. However, they were moved to another floor where they were able to enjoy some air conditioning instead of the stuffy fan, and they had Tsuna to thank for that. The incident was a bit traumatizing to some, but the rest were too busy discussing Tsunayoshi Sawada to really care too much about this. Would Dame-Tsuna come- No, Kakoii Tsuna (for girls) (**A/N: It means Cool Tsuna :p ) **/Kawaii Sawada (for boys) return to school again for lessons? Most probably not, since they figured that Tsuna wouldn't be able to escape unscathed by a _gunfight._

_Oh well, they had a whole month to figure things out... If they succeeded, at least._

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this! I'm trying to study, but if people read my stories less often I'll try to write a new chapter as soon as possible and can't really do my homework… So please, read and review! I appreciate it! :) I really want to know your opinions on this fic, which doesn't seem too good by my standards… XD**

**Ja na~**

**KuroRaven**


	4. Chapter 4

Tsuna calmly walked to his classroom with Yamamoto and Gokudera, while Hibari returned to the Reference Room.

As soon as the trio returned to their classroom, students pounced onto Tsuna, asking about what had happened. Obviously, Tsuna didn't spill anything – he didn't want to risk getting shot by Reborn if he somehow found out (amazing, how Reborn always got information of his doings) and this would certainly freak out his classmates. Even if it were only for a month, he wouldn't like it if people shunned him because of his status as a mafia boss. Sighing heavily, Tsuna said that it must have been a mistake. Gokudera and Yamamoto stood aside silently, letting Tsuna think up a plausible excuse.

"What do you mean by 'mistake', Sawada-san? You clearly understood those guys. And how did you jump off 3 stories without getting hurt?" Many students nodded in agreement, getting more curious by the second.

Hiding his nervousness easily through Reborn's rather _malicious_ methods, Tsuna smiled, causing a few girls to start shrieking in delight, while the boys were having nosebleeds. Using this as a distraction, he walked off quickly and successfully escaped the torrent of questions.

"Are you really Dame-Tsuna?" a girl suddenly asked. Twirling around, Tsuna gave another of his earth-shattering smiles.

"What do you think?"

All of the girls could die without regrets now.

As it was already time to return home, Tsuna was accompanied by Gokudera and Yamamoto to get back. They continued their previous conversation, with Tsuna telling the two about his boring day at work.

"你好! Ni hao!" a familiar voice chirped happily.

"Nyahahaha! Tsuna, buy Lambo-san a lollipop!" It couldn't be...

"Oi, Ahoshi! How dare you order Jyuudaime around? I'm sorry, Jyuudaime, I'll take care of this matter immediately." Seeing that Tsuna had not made any attempt to stop him, Gokudera pulled out six dynamites out of who-knows-where, all lighted and ready to destroy stuff.

"Maa, maa, calm down. It doesn't really matter." Yamamoto held Gokudera back while chuckling lightly.

Meanwhile, I-pin and Lambo were engaged in a game of Catch while chuckling happily. The whole sight was just so nostalgic and Tsuna could relax entirely then.

An ominous presence appeared and a knife followed, missing Tsuna by inches as it was caught by the Vongola boss.

Seeing the weapon, the guardians whipped their heads around, meeting another flurry of knives. Expertly, the two dodged out of the way as Tsuna stood his ground, unfazed. Apparently, they had continued with their training and had improved their own reflexes.

"What business do you have with me?"

"So it seems that the 10th generation Vongola boss is really in Japan." The man smirked. "But... Can you dodge this?" A homing missile was detected by Tsuna's Hyper Intuition and Tsuna sighed heavily before twirling gracefully in the air and holding the thin missile, crushing the whole thing with a hand. The missile turned into dust. He could light up a small amount of dying will flames on his own, which meant that his gloves weren't needed. It seemed that Tsuna didn't need his gloves to ignite his own Dying Will Flames, though only for a short period of time.

Watching Tsuna in amazement, Yamamoto asked, "Tsuna, when did you get _this_ much power? You didn't even have your gloves on!" Gokudera and Tsuna made no answer to this comment.

"So you have been trained... Remember this - you will never be able to escape from us. Just so you know, the Gabino family was just a tiny part of us. I am of the Karuno family - remember us. That way, you'll know by whose hands you died by. By the way, I've left you with a little gift. Hope you like it!" With that said, the mysterious man was off, with not a trace behind him, leaving behind the ruined missile and his words lingering behind.

"Tsuna. Tsuna! TSUNA! Lambo-san wants a lollipop!" Lambo's voice suddenly seemed terribly irritating. Luckily for him, I-pin was able to keep him occupied.

"No! Tsuna-san busy! We can have a lollipop later!" It was funny how I-pin chided the sniffling cow. Tsuna's spirits lifted considerably, as he brushed his hands against each other to get the powdery stuff off. Yamamoto and Gokudera fell silent, which was rather unusual for the two of them.

Giving an unworried smile, Tsuna exclaimed, "Guys! We need to get back or Mum will get worried!" Both of them fell back into easy smiles, concealing their own feelings of worry from those few but dangerous words.

Silently, they made their way back to the house with Lambo and I-pin's consistent laughter. Meanwhile, Tsuna was inwardly thinking about the mysterious man. _It's the first time I've heard about this. The Karuno family was one of the few influential families before Vongola became the top, and we've been in this position for the past few generations. Why are they suddenly surfacing? Besides, do they honestly think that I'm that fun to tease? If they dare hurt my friends…_ Tsuna's expression hardened as he imagined what he would do if he guardians met with any danger because of that man and his superiors. And what about the present being mentioned earlier on?

"Decimo-sama. Decimo-sama?" A voice interrupted his thoughts. The whole group of people turned around to see who had been calling Tsuna by his title, and even in Italian. It turned out that Sho and Akira had been waiting near Tsuna's house to ensure that their boss was fine and safe.

"Um, guys, this is Sho," The guy with short black hair and part of his fringe covering a bit of his face bowed. "And this is Akira." The other person with shoulder-length and messy brown hair nodded.

"Eh? These people are protecting Jyuudaime?" Gokudera asked worriedly.

"Maa, maa, it doesn't matter as long as they get their work done!" Yamamoto cheerfully exclaimed.

"Gokudera-kun, relax. These guys were trained by Dino-san for a period of time, before the Varia were forced to spar with them." Tsuna assured his guardians that Sho and Akira would definitely be able to take care of small fry which occasionally "popped in for a small visit".

"Oh yeah, Akira, Sho, I'll ask Mum to prepare rooms for both of you to sleep in, alright? Where is your luggage?"

"Ahh, Decimo-sama, it's fine. You don't have to worry about us, because we'll be fine on our own. If you'll excuse us…" Akira answered, preparing to slink away.

"As my bodyguards, you guys are counted as my friends. And if you are my friends, you are going to be _treated_ like one." Tsuna was using his 'threatening' voice now, and the two guiltily came back. This was the first time that their boss was calling them 'friends', which was an honour. And to be friends with such a cool but cute boss... They bowed and told their kind boss that they would send over their luggage and gave their thanks.

"Jyuudaime, are you sure they are worth doing this? They're just your underlings." Gokudera demanded, thinking that Tsuna was just too kind for his own good, like always.

"Gokudera-kun, I've got to take care of my friends." Sighing inaudibly, the Storm guardian walked straight towards Tsuna's home. Seeing this as a cue, everyone followed, with Sho and Akira trailing far behind.

"Ah! Tsu-kun is back already?" Nana started, but was interrupted by the two youngsters flying into her arms.

"Mama! Tsuna didn't buy Lambo a lollipop!" he complained, tears brimming. Nana turned her attention to comfort the boy by giving him a grape-flavoured lollipop. His mood 'swung' to one of contentment, while he silently licked his candy.

The whole family now had their dinner which was a rather large one, and chatted along happily, with Lambo stealing his fish. Really, the boy was getting more and more like Reborn.

~Meanwhile~

Reborn watched the whole scene quietly, with Leon sunbathing on his hat. Smirking, he wondered which was the best way to torture the cow - roasting, drowning or throw him down twenty-seven floors? Reborn frowned as he recalled the incident Tsuna had been involved in. (Don't ask how he knew, but Reborn had his sources) The Karuno family had been the leading and most influential, until they mysteriously disappeared, leaving no traces of their existence, other than in people's memories. Giotto had once dealt with this particular family before for embezzling funds and killing those under the Vongola 'for fun'. Such a bloodthirsty and dirty family had been destroyed by Vongola Primo himself. So why were they surfacing now?

"Lucifer."

"Yes, Reborn-sama?" A blonde man walked into the room and bowed.

"Prepare a plane to Japan. I'm leaving tonight."

"Yes."

After dinner, Yamamoto and Gokudera left for their own reasons after graciously thanking Nana for the delicious meal. Tsuna had asked his mother if preparing a room would be possible, and of course, introduced his bodyguards who had brought their belongings, stating his wish that they had a room to sleep in.

She was rather... too excited by the idea of Tsuna having bodyguards.

"Oh my... You two are Tsu-kun's bodyguards? Please take care of him!" Nana exclaimed to the two who were starting to smile nervously. They'd never thought that Vongola Decimo's mother could be so… warm and unexpectedly helpful.

"No, no… Decimo-sama is too strong, we are just helping out to clear the weak enemies out of the way." After hearing this, Nana just laughed it off. Honestly, she was rather naiive… or perhaps she already knew of her husband and son's current position in the mafia. Nobody could really tell with her easy-going attitude.

"Alright, alright. Now off to bed, all of you. Have a good rest, and I'll see you. You can wake up later since it's a Saturday tomorrow." The motherly smile shooed them off.

Akira and Sho shared Iemitsu, Tsuna's father's room and went off to take their baths, while Tsuna retreated to his room and flopped onto the bed, thinking back to the man's words.

_He'll be back… definitely. But if he already knew that I would be able to destroy that missile… why even launch it at me? _Tsuna stared at his right hand which had crushed the metallic object. It looked fine, obviously, and-

Wait, WHAT?

Tsuna brought his hand closer to his eyes, blocking out the light. There were black dots, seemingly trying to make a picture. They were blurry, but definitely there.

What did that mean?

_Reborn… if you were here, what would you tell me to do? You'd probably tell me not to be a wimp and try to get this over with, right? _Tsuna sighed heavily for the umpteenth time that day, as he considered contacting his tutor.

Ugh. No.

He didn't need his one-month break to be interrupted by more training and paperwork. And the endless number of bodyguards and servants at his beck and call… Everything had happened on his first day back to Namimori, and on his resting time.

Why did fate like to toy with him so much? Couldn't he even have some time to rest?

He stared up at the ring instead to avert his eyes from the dots, which stretched from his wrist to his palm. It certainly did look rather weird and to some, even disgusting. He'd have to do something to hide this.

A burning, intense pain brought him out of his thoughts and to his senses. It wasn't the kind of sharp pain which lasted for a few seconds, but one of such pain that even Reborn's hellish training couldn't really be compared to. It was excruciating, and he gritted his teeth to prevent himself for crying out and alerting his family members and bodyguards. It felt as if a burning hot iron had been placed on his arm, and was moving along, up towards his palm. _Moving along?_ Tsuna wondered through his pain, while tears were brought to his eyes.

His eyes strayed to the dots on his end and almost gasped, out of both pain and surprise. The dots were moving, slowly but surely, up towards the palm. They didn't seem to be forming any shape though. Right then, all Tsuna wanted was for this whole thing to stop. To hell with being a mafia boss. To hell with protecting his friends. To hell with this arm. JUST STOP!

Almost on cue, the pain abruptly stopped. Tsuna wiped away those tears with his left hand in case his right arm felt like acting up again. He stared at that arm. _This must be the present that man left me with. But how did it even get here? The only thing I touched from that man was the knife and the- … Oh. That powdery substance…_ Tsuna had never thought much of the powder, since it didn't seem to be harmful. Oh well, he was wrong now. What was he doing?

While thinking, Tsuna eventually fell asleep, his right arm tucked comfortably under him, his light snores filling the room which was just so familiar.

Reborn stared at the clock. It was time to board the Vongola's personal jet.

**A/N: This is a rather short chapter (or is it not?) Either way, I hope you enjoyed it, since I used about 4 hours and some time in between classes to write this chapter. Hope you guys won't dislike it, and please review! Honestly, I really like writing since I always don't have any plot. Anything that comes to mind just types itself on the computer. So if you guys review and I get really inspired, you could get a new chapter soon! :) I hope you won't think me horrid writer, and support me. XD**

**Ja na~**

**KuroRaven**


	5. Chapter 5

"Reborn-sama, we have two hours till we reach our destination."

The baby frowned in concentration.

Tsuna woke up in cold sweat from a nightmare of thousands being killed before him. Why was this type of dream surfacing now? Was it a side effect of the powdery substance, or just one of those occasional nightmares?

Unable to fall back into the realms of sleep, and already a bit afraid to do so, Tsuna climbed out of bed and sat at his desk, staring out at the sky. It was still relatively dark, but according to his digital clock sitting at the edge of his desk, it was currently 5.23 a.m. He was already getting used to waking up at this time, or even earlier, since Reborn liked to kick him at around that time – whether to train his reflexes or to wake him, he would never know. Either way, he would get up, quite annoyed.

He stared at the night sky, complete with a full moon making its way down at a turtle's pace, and numerous stars twinkling and winking at him. The cool breeze caressed his cheeks, and Tsuna enjoyed the city lights which he could see from his window. They were one of the few things about Tsuna liked of his bedroom windows – looking out and seeing those beautiful lights with different colours.

Tsuna's mind strayed to his now 'tainted' arm, and he immediately shook his head in frustration. _No._ He wouldn't worry about it now. He had to know the motives of the people who intended to harm and, almost definitely, kill him in cold blood. The effects of the powder, or whatever that substance was, in him was something he, too, had to find out. That could wait till later.

He gazed out, and closed his eyes to rid himself of his thoughts. Now, he would think of nothing. A blank state of mind to calm himself down. _Tabula Rasa_. It was Latin for 'blank slate'. That was what he needed at the moment. Gradually, he drifted off into a state of half-consciousness, and was partly asleep, though his mind was still very much awake.

"Tsu-kun! Are you awake?" a voice called from downstairs.

Instantly, Tsuna jerked up, all signs of his sleepiness gone.

"Ha~i!" Tsuna called, loud enough for his mother to hear, but not that his bodyguards would wake up. He knew that both needed a lot of rest, since they always had to be awake before himself, and slept later than anybody else. He could cut them some slack, since Reborn wasn't there to torture his friends.

Tsuna trooped down the stairs and helped his mother with the cooking. She was cooking up a feast, which was certainly too much for breakfast, but obviously she didn't really care. They were feeding 6 people after all – Nana, Tsuna, Akira, Sho, Lambo and I-pin (who had stayed over). Smiling, Tsuna whistled to a familiar tune while shuffling around the kitchen. He hadn't done things like helping with cooking meals for quite some time, since he had people to do that for him when he was in the Headquarters.

"Eh? Tsu-kun?"

"Nani?" Tsuna asked in confusion as his mother suddenly spoke.

"When did you get those piercings?" Nana wondered aloud.

"Ah… these? Reborn forced me to get these…" he trailed off.

"Oh well! It doesn't matter! They make Tsu-kun look really handsome anyway! Black looks like a good colour for Tsu-kun, ne?" Nana smiled, and her son was immensely happy. At least his mother wouldn't nag at him about those, since it had bugged him quite some time ago.

"Haha, I guess so. I still have some others, though I only brought 2 of them over. I'll show them to you later!" Tsuna replied excitedly. He wanted to know what his mother thought about the others – one of them was a skull made of silver, while the other was black, with a tinge of blue.

Nana nodded and the two continued with their task silently, though happily.

At about 8a.m, they laid the table and a feast of eggs, ham, fried noodles, chicken and fish were displayed. Obviously, some of the food was going to be left over for lunch.

Tsuna went over to his bodyguards' room and lightly shook them awake. Being light sleepers, they instantly sat up and relaxed, when they realised that it was their boss calling them.

"Morning, Decimo-sama." The two chorused with sleepy voices. Tsuna nodded and left to allow them to get ready.

Within minutes, the two were done and wore suits. Even though Tsuna knew that it was a neccessity for them to be dressed such, he pitied them. The suit was just exasperatingly warm and uncomfortable - he couldn't understand how adults could wear it comfortably every day. Lambo and I-pin were already comfortably seated, while the rest were patiently waiting for the two.

"Mama~ Lambo-san's hungry! Can we eat first?" the cow boy grumbled. I-pin chided like always.

After Sho and Akira had settled into their respective seats beside Tsuna, everyone mumbled 'Itadakimasu' and dug in, almost ravenously.

"Ciaossu~"

Tsuna shivered in terror as his tutor sat cross-legged in front of him.

"R-REBORN?"

"Dame-Tsuna is still Dame-Tsuna." Reborn rolled his eyes at the huge reaction.

"Never mind that, why are you here? It's my holiday, not the time for you to kill me!" Tsuna responded in exasperation.

In answer to this, Reborn merely leaned over and took a piece of ham from Tsuna.

"Ahh, Reborn-kun! Take a seat here, I'll prepare some rice for you!" Nana beamed. Ah, the more the merrier!

"No, but thank you, Mama. I need to tell Tsuna something." With that said, Reborn pulled Tsuna to his room, leaving a plate of half-eaten rice. Sho and Akira continued with their meal, as they knew very well what would happen If they ever decided to interfere with the tutor-and-student talk.

~In Tsuna's room~

"Ow ow ow ow! Reborn, stop pulling my ear!" Tsuna groaned in pain.

"Shut up. Now tell me, what do you know of the Karuno family?"

"Er…" How did Reborn know of this? Oh wait, he _was_ Reborn after all. He recited all of the information he had memorised about the family, wondering about the 'present' again. Till then, those black dots had made no movement at all, and there wasn't any pain.

"And how long were you going to hide their little visit from me?" Reborn demanded. In his baby form, he wasn't as intimidating as the time when he was an adult (Thanks to Verde's skills as a professional scientist, he had unwillingly given the Arcobaleno his pills, which could allow them to switch to their original forms for 24 hours).

"Aha…hahaha… it wasn't anything that required your attention…" Tsuna laughed nervously. Honestly, he was glad that Reborn was there. He certainly had no idea of what to do about the current situation.

Without replying, Reborn grabbed Tsuna's right hand and turned the wrist towards him, displaying those little dots.

"So… what are these?" Reborn questioned, a deadly aura surfacing.

Tsuna had no idea of how to reply, seeing that he himself wished to know the answer to that.

"Tsuna, these matters are important. Does anybody else know about these… marks?"

Tsuna shook his head. Should his guardians know about the black dots? He didn't want to worry them, though.

"Alright. Follow me. We're going out." Reborn thought for a minute, before dragging the boy who was gaping like a fish. Like always, Reborn was just so… unpredictable.

"Mama! We're heading out for a while! We'll be right back!" the baby hollored and rushed out with Tsuna, before Lambo could even think of following.

"R-Reborn! Where are we going?" Tsuna asked worriedly. Since his tutor had no intention of telling him anything, he was getting a little frightened. Were they going to some whacko who Reborn knew? Was he going to go for more training? Tsuna shook his head in defiance. No way in _hell_ was he going to do that.

"Oi, Dame-Tsuna. If you don't watch where you're going, you are sure to hit a lamppost or something, you know." Reborn smirked. Even before Tsuna could react to that sentence, his forehead connected to a metal pole, hard.

"Reborn! You should have warned me earlier!"

"Blame yourself."

Tsuna grumpily rubbed his sore forehead while he was forced to run after Reborn, and they arrived at-

Oh no. This was not going to be good.

"Herbivore. What are you doing here? And you too, baby. Give me a reasonable excuse, or I'll bite you to death."

Hibari Kyouya.

"Ahh… er…" Tsuna stuttered uncertainly. Even after the time away from Nanimori, he never forgot the wrath of the prefect, seeing that he had been thoroughly bitten to death some time ago.

"It's business. Hibari, if you let us pass, _I_'ll let you fight me once."

"Hn. Fine." With that, Hibari let them in.

They couldn't be meeting…

Reborn smirked as he pushed Tsuna into the informatory.

"Say hi."

All that was running through Tsuna's mind was this – WHAT? What did he have to see that… pervertic Shamal for?

"Oh? Who is the beautiful young lady who has come for me to treat them? Do I have the honour of asking what the young lady's na-" Shamal began while dancing towards the door, stopping as soon as he saw who it was. His attitude, obviously turned cold.

"I don't treat males." he flatly refused, straight to Tsuna's face.

"Shut it, Shamal. I need to ask you something. You might know something about it." Reborn sighed. Shamal stared at the hitman in the room.

"Fine. As long as I don't have to treat him."

"Look at my student's arm first." Reborn roughly grabbed Tsuna by the wrist and made him sit on the chair in front. The black dots were the same as they had been in the morning. It seemed that they hadn't moved, either.

"This…" Shamal stared wide-eyed at Tsuna, then at the dots again.

"How is it, Shamal?" Reborn asked, staring at Shamal. The reaction of the man was unexpected. Wide-eyes meant either… big boobs or-

Disbelief.

Shock.

And if that was what _Shamal _was feeling, this meant something serious.

"Reborn."

"What the heck happened with this lil' guy?" Tsuna cringed at the use of 'lil'. He was no shorty anymore, compared to the time when he was 14.

Tsuna repeated the whole situation again in a bored tone. Was he going to have to do this for twenty more times? He rolled his eyes at that thought.

"Don't roll your eyes, Dame-student. How is it, Shamal?"

All of a sudden, that intense pain came back. The dots were moving, obviously. Tsuna hated this, and pulled his arm back and bit his lip to prevent himself from crying out. It hurt like hell, and it was as if his muscles were being pinched, from his wrist to his palm. Then, the feeling like something was rubbing against that very part of his arm was just excruciating. It was like before, as if there was iron on his arm, and he was burning. Tears were forced out as Tsuna squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for this moment to pass as soon as possible. It felt as if eternity had past, but the pain was obviously there, torturing him; eating him alive.

_STOP! Please, I beg you, whoever it is, stop! _Tsuna's inner mind was in his turmoil then. Thoughts were coming and going, all too quickly to identify as they whizzed past.

As if from a distance, Tsuna could hear faint voices, which sounded a bit like something wondering what was going on. Tsuna would have laughed if he could. He couldn't ever tell anybody about these pains, could he? He'd rather die than get laughed at for being "girly" and "unable to take a little pain". It pissed him off whenever people laughed at him and such things happened.

He could feel his consciousness sliding away, like an elusive snake. Tsuna struggled to get that part of himself back, so that he wouldn't fall unconscious in an _informatory_, of all places.

He could feel arms shaking him by the shoulders, but he didn't want to move. If he moved, it would hurt right? A millisecond felt like a day – shit.

And it all went black.

**A/N: Hello guys! I'm just really tired now and I gotta study… So, let's just say that I wrote a shitty chapter, because I've been listening to electric music for the past few hours, and normally I'm a bit less… vulgar right? I don't give a damn anymore… -.- I'm stressed. STRESSED! Darn exams… So.. It wasn't that vulgar anyway. I'm just venting it on the keyboard. Well, thanks for reading!**

**Ja~**

**KuroRaven**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Before anything starts, I'd like to thank everyone who's been reading each chapter! Your comments make me really happy and I'll try my best to make my stories more interesting! (Er, hopefully I don't mess up the whole thing in the process :X) **

"Oi, Tsuna! Tsuna! If you don't wake up now, I'll be training you 14 times a week!" Reborn threatened his student, hoping that his student wouldn't be so out of it and wake up to his friendly help. Who would pass a chance to get stronger?

"Reborn, if you threaten him some more, I'm pretty sure that he would be too afraid to regain consciousness." Shamal sighed, though not reproaching the hitman. He was in no position to do so, after all. Besides, Reborn had his ways of taking care of his students.

Reborn merely grinned, lowering his fedora slightly. He had a _very_ good idea of how Tsuna would react.

Tsuna abruptly sat up, staring wildly ahead.

Reborn smirked. "See?"

Shamal smiled and shook his head, amused.

"E-eh? What happened?" the bewildered brunet voiced in confusion. Why was he in a bed in the infirmary? It didn't make sense.

"Stop stuttering, Dame-Tsuna. Or would you rather I get you to stop by-" Tsuna's frantic shake of his head told him everything he needed to know.

"So," Reborn sighed, "What happened?"

"Haha," Tsuna began rather nervously. "Well, I guess I freaked out too much because of Shamal's reaction. He is counted as a hitman, and specializes in these. Anyway, after I explained it to him, my arm got really itchy." Tsuna desperately hoped that Reborn bought his lie.

"Itchy to the point that you fainted? How very interesting!" Reborn and Shamal thought, with a tinge of sarcasm.

Tsuna cleared his throat. "Well, anyway, what's wrong with me?"

Reborn's tiny smirk was still on his face, but he was definitely having a grave mood now. It gave off this really creepy feeling, which certainly did not bode well.

"Let's just say that you're currently incurable. Dame-Tsuna, it's very obvious that you're a weakling, so I'm going to ask you this once. Will you be alright? Or I could get Shamal's mosquitoes to- "

"No, no, it's fine!" Tsuna inwardly shuddered. Shamal didn't even know his disease, so how was he going to be cured? Who knows, he might start suffering from other things...

"Alright. Time to get back home!" With that, Reborn bounced off, leaving Shamal and Tsuna behind.

Shamal, who had been silent all this time, spoke. "Vongola Decimo, you know very well that I don't treat men. Your condition is unstable because at the moment, there is no way to cure you. As a doctor and because you are Vongola Decimo, I'm giving you anything you need. I believe it's alright if I give you a mosquito to prevent your itchiness."

It was not common that Shamal would treat others with such respect, except those he truly admired. In this case, Shamal held pity for Tsuna, and to ensure the head of the Vongola would not fall. For the past generations, Shamal and his ancestors had been serving Giotto and his descendants as doctors when they had serious injuries, poisoning or diseases.

Their lust for women was somehow similar.

BESIDES that irrelevant piece of information, Shamal was being very generous at the moment.

Tsuna was obviously lying about the itchiness, so he declined with a little smile, though he did promise to come back if he ever needed help.

Well, he doubted he would, unless Reborn allowed him to, though that meant his Dame title would stick forever.

Tsuna ran home hurriedly, for fear of the thunderstorm waiting at home. One would be Lambo and I-pin wrecking the house, and Reborn waiting for him *ahem* very patiently. With a lot of things to brood over, he focused on getting home in an absent-minded state, half-knowing what he was doing.

It didn't help that as soon as he opened the door, he was kicked in the face by his tutor.

"Itetete! Reborn, were you trying to kill me or something?" Tsuna yelled, though feeling more annoyance than the pain, which he had long-grown accustomed of. He started to nurse his poor nose as he entered the house.

Surprisingly, nobody else was home. Reborn explained that Nana had brought the two youngsters out, together with Kyoko and Haru. It seemed that Reborn was being awfully nice to him that day, but that was until he found two high piles of books on his study table.

"Because this is your holiday, I'm giving you some light studying to do." The brunet stared at his tutor in horror, accentuating his feelings which were now "WHAT THE HECK?" Holidays did not mean studying. Holidays did not mean homework. Holidays did not include training. Holidays included relaxation, fun and games! DEFINITELY NOT STUDYING.

Honestly, Reborn must have a screw loose to have such a weird definition of "light". Two huge piles of books of Japanese and Italian history, and more Italian, French, German, Russian and English books to study were out of his radar of "light".

"Dame-Tsuna, I'm perfectly sane. Thanks for your compliment." God, now he's reading my mind? Tsuna sighed exasperatedly in his mind, not exactly glad that his privacy was being breached.

"And I cannot read your mind. You're too easy to read, like always." Reborn replied, reading his mind again. "One last thing. Akira and Sho have been sent back to Italy for now, since you have your guardians with you. Now then, get to work. You have to finish these," he gestured to the books, "by the end of the time you are staying in Japan."

Tsuna gasped and quickly got to work, taking the first book on top of the first pile and flipping through it to see how many pages it was. Meanwhile, Reborn was long gone to do more of his research, and finding out more information through his sources.

Tsuna was getting extremely tired and could feel his eyelids drooping as he read the text before him in boredom. It was about a rather boring book about psychology which he had to think long and hard about. Adding the fact that the book was in English which he wasn't good at, his brain was going to explode from all the information and thinking. Sighing deeply, he controlled the raging headache by temporarily stopping all thinking progress and felt the throb which reduced, little by little.

He glanced at the digital clock at the corner of his table and noticed it was rather late already, so he decided to turn in, which he did so after wearily staring at his books for a second.

Reborn woke him up the next morning in his usual manner of using a large hammer, which Tsuna easily dodged with his enhanced intuition which had been trained through dangerous situations and vigorous trainings with his tutor.

"What? I don't have to go to school today since it's Sunday! What's the point of getting up early?" he half-whined. His precious sleep was now cut short, and to reiterate his point, _it was a holiday. _

"Mama said that she's going out with Kyoko and Haru today, so you have to cook your breakfast and lunch yourself. She left already." Tsuna got up, realising that instead of the usual time he woke up, it was actually 10 in the morning already. He went to the bathroom to refresh himself and brush his teeth, and as soon as he got downstairs as quickly as he could, he was dealt with another blow by Reborn, which he almost blocked entirely, though it got him on the cheek, causing a minor scrape.

"Dame-Tsuna, I'm hungry." He stated matter-of-factly.

Apparently, Reborn had told Nana that since Tsuna now knew how to cook, it would be better if he just cooked instead of relying on his mother all the time. Quote, "Tsuna is now a mafia boss, so that means he should have the survival skills which obviously include cooking."

Tsuna often helped out in the kitchen, but he had never cooked anything more than ramen, rice and some simple dishes. Hopefully, Reborn wouldn't start complaining about his poor skills. He was rather out of touch as in his 2 years out of Japan, he had a cook to provide him with his meals.

Hurriedly, he cooked the rice and whipped up some eggs and vegetables he found in the refrigerator and served it. Thankfully, Reborn made no attempt to chide him for his speed nor the food, which tasted alright, by his standards, though nowhere near his mother's standard.

"Today, you're free to do anything you want to. Tell me if your wrist starts to get… itchy." Reborn smiled solemnly as he finished his last egg. Tsuna forced a tiny smile as he remembered the absurd lie from the day before.

"Fine."

Hearing his student's agreement, Reborn put down his fork and disappeared out of the house, probably to gather more information. Tsuna sighed and brought the plates to the kitchen to wash.

_I haven't seen Kyoko-chan or Haru since I came back. I'd better ask Mum about them and probably go shopping with them or something after school tomorrow. _He continued to wash the dishes while wondering what he was going to do later. Call up Gokudera and Yamamoto to chat? Go jogging? Train? Or perhaps-

_Argh. I suddenly feel dizzy… _The plates in front of him began to move, though Tsuna was sure that he wasn't swaying but standing straight. Quickly, he pressed a soapy hand to his forehead and steadied himself. _Damn… what's happening?_ A raging headache was clearly surfacing slowly, and he ignored the throbbing in his mind to focus on standing straight which, in itself, was becoming a task. He washed his hands and dried them, and staggered to his bedroom to get some rest.

It _had_ to be the effects of powdery substance, because he was healthy. He knew that already. Which meant that the substance had to be of very high-technology to be something more than just… powder. This would imply that the Karuno family had developed a technology which was superior to the Vongola. This wasn't the time for a holiday! Of all times, why now, when I'm having my break? Tsuna groaned as his headache intensified. It was fortunate that he was already resting in his bed, or else he would have hurt himself while stumbling for his room.

He had to contact Giannini without Reborn knowing! His pride would not allow it if he was unable to do anything on his own. Reborn would definitely scoff his attempts since he was inexperienced, which Tsuna did not doubt. It was always "Reborn to the rescue!" in such matters. This time, though, he would prove that he, Sawada Tsunayoshi, was able to handle these situations. He had accepted his fate as a mafia boss, so he would do all he could to protect his family.

All of a sudden, the throb in his mind died down and he opened his eyes. He hadn't realised that he'd closed them in the first place. It was starting to infuriate him, the way families would hurt humans like themselves just for the sake of power and positions. This was just like how Byakuran wanted power, though simply on a smaller scale. Either way, it was wrong!

Wearily, he reached for his mobile phone and dialed the number to Vongola Headquarters.

"I need to speak to Giannini."

LINE BREAK_

By the time Tsuna was done discussing some matters with his technician, it was already lunchtime. He didn't feel like moving, but if Reborn came back to see him slacking off and not doing anything productive, he'd be a goner.

He made a few simple sandwiches and started studying the books which Reborn had given him, his mind on ways to track this family and their purpose. Could it be that they wanted to take over his family to be the strongest, or simply to prove their worth? A very perplexing concept which he couldn't understand…

"Tsu-kun! I'm back with Kyoko-chan and Haru-chan!" Nana's voice rang loud and clear as she opened the door.

"Tsuna-san!" Two voices chorused, and Tsuna instantly recognized as his female friends' – Kyoko and Haru. His mother had already confirmed that.

Smiling excitedly, he ran downstairs to see his friends, eager to get away from his troubles and books. Instantly, the three friends started chatting about their school life and anything that came to mind. They hadn't seen each other for a long time.

Tsuna was thankful that Haru had gotten over the fact that he was not going to marry her when they grew older, since she had started babbling about a certain man she had seen the day before. Otherwise, he would have to deal with her hanging around him all day.

"Tsuna-san, there was this super handsome man that I saw when I was walking home after going to the grocers! He had long black hair, and some markings on his face! He is really, really handsome! Guess what, he banged into me- " and on and on she went, discussing her new crush. Tsuna inwardly rolled his eyes as he heard her rambling on. Out of politeness, he did not stop her.

Kyoko smiled gently as she listened to her friend speak about another man so excitedly, and giggled at a few places. After all, they were at the age where these problems would start to surface. For some, it would be bliss, but for others it would be all but a painful memory.

It seemed that time flew by as the three laughed at jokes and things that happened in the past and all the experiences that the normal students had, which Tsuna was glad to hear. The girls were equally excited to hear about Tsuna's training, though if they were to experience it themselves, that would probably be a different matter altogether. Before they knew it, the sun was down.

Reborn had mysteriously re-appeared in Tsuna's room all of a sudden, though he picked up on Reborn's slight killer intent instantly. _He's gotten better at detecting killer intent._ Reborn smirked as he called for the three to have their meal downstairs.

Lambo and I-pin had been playing outside, which was why there had been no disturbances earlier on. Obviously, since it was time for their meal, everybody was back in the house. The house, which had been full of I-pin and Lambo's laughter in the past, was now full of laughter and chatter, which Nana had certainly missed.

"Mum!" Tsuna suddenly piped up, having thought of something.

"Hmm?"

"Do you know what Dad- "

**Ring. Ring. Ring.**

Tsuna raised his eyebrows at the untimely interruption, but this topic wasn't that important at the moment, so he chose to ask again some other time.

He walked over to the telephone and answered it.

"Hello, this is the Sawada Residence."

Silence followed for a second.

"Gokudera's badly hurt."

**A/N: I've been influenced by this anime I'm watching, so I'm pretty sure that my style has changed a bit. Sorry for that, and this chapter is mostly explanation and not action. Sorry about that. This is the best I can think of at the moment. The next chapter would be about Tsuna in school, so there will be more interaction between characters. By the way, I… kinda forgot what Kyoko calls Tsuna, so forgive me if I'm wrong… *scratches head nervously* Should I make the plot a tad more complicated? Other than the problem of this family attacking…(mwahaha chaos) Hm… *tears hair out* ARGH!**


End file.
